Even as support for the tax cut deal worked out by President Obama and senior congressional Republicans is falling, many Americans feel the two sides aren’t working hard enough to get along.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters think congressional Republicans are not being cooperative enough with the president. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say the GOP’s level of cooperation is about right, while just 18% think the opposition party is being too cooperative. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

As for the president, 35% of voters score him for not being cooperative enough with Republicans, but that’s down five points from last week. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say Obama’s level of cooperation is about right, and 21% feel the president is being too cooperative.

Among other things, poll numbers like this suggest that Republicans ought to tread lightly in adopting an all-or-nothing strategy once they’ve taken control of the House next month, and that a repeat of the government shutdown scenario of 1995/96, which has been suggested by some on the right already, would be a serious political miscalculation by the GOP.

About Doug MataconisDoug holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May, 2010 and also writes at Below The Beltway.
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“Among other things, poll numbers like this suggest that Republicans ought to tread lightly in adopting an all-or-nothing strategy once they’ve taken control of the House next month”

Except,of course, they’re drunk on their “mandate”. As someone said, Bill Clinton was very fortunate in his enemies. The buffoonery of the GOP, led by buffoon-in-chief Gingrich, helped him immensely. I think the same dynamic will redound to Obama’s benefit. Already his numbers are going up with independents because of the tax bill. And independents are the fulcrum of our elections these days. Of course, all that would depend on the new crop of GOP legislators not learning from history. But the lesson of history is that fire-eaters don’t learn from history.